A 13-Year-Old’s Success in Tennis Raises Questions About Age Limits

Amanda Anisimova, 16, who beat the 13-year-old Cori Gauff for the U.S. Open girls’ title. Rules limit girls’ tournament play.

Chang W. Lee / The New York Times

By BEN ROTHENBERG

September 10, 2017

The retired players Kim Clijsters, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Joe Fernandez and Martina Navratilova held a news conference after their exhibition doubles match on Sunday at the United States Open and spoke glowingly of American women’s tennis success.

There had been an all-American women’s final on Saturday, won by Sloane Stephens. And the girls’ final on Sunday was a contest between two young Americans, with Amanda Anisimova beating Cori Gauff, 6-0, 6-2. The girls’ finals at the French Open and Wimbledon this year were also all-American affairs.

“Anisimova, she can play,” Navratilova said of the New Jersey-born 16-year-old.

Fernandez added praise for Gauff, who goes by Coco, and then mentioned her age. Navratilova gasped loudly.

“Thirteen?” Navratilova said, incredulously.

The shock was understandable: Gauff was the youngest player ever to reach the U.S. Open girls’ final, and could have become the youngest champion of a junior Grand Slam event since Martina Hingis won the 1993 French Open at 12. The second youngest was Jennifer Capriati, who won the 1989 French Open at 13.

The precocious Capriati was greeted by breathless excitement as she emerged on the tour. The cover of Sports Illustrated in March 1990 exclaimed: “And She’s Only 13!” Newsweek called her “The 8th Grade Wonder.”

Faced with too much pressure and exposure too young, Capriati would become a cautionary tale, a case study in burnout on the professional tennis tour. In 1994, the WTA decided to restrict the number of professional tournaments that teenagers could play at each age. Players 13 and younger cannot play any; 14- to 17-year-olds can play a limited number, gradually increasing annually from eight to 10 to 12 to 16. Up to four additional tournaments can be added per year if a player achieves strong results.

“We’ve only had to watch what’s happened with Jennifer Capriati to realize that clearly there was a far greater level of expectation than was right or humane placed on her before she’d reached a reasonable age,” Pam Shriver, then president of the WTA, said at the time.

Some players like Hingis and Venus Williams were grandfathered in; otherwise, the pipeline of teenage phenoms all but dried up. Maria Sharapova was the last 17-year-old to win a Grand Slam, at Wimbledon in 2004.

Gauff noted that the men’s tour had no such age-based limits but said she had accepted them as a reality of the sport.

“I wish that the age rules were a little different, because they don’t have any limits on the men’s side,” she said. “But if it’s not going to change, I’ll take it. I see why they put the rules in place, to try not to burn out girls so young. But I feel as if I could do better things.”

Though no one doubts that the rule was well intentioned, many still question its fairness, including Gauff’s father, Corey.

“They put this thing in place for something in the past that didn’t go well,” he said. “That’s what the rule is for, and I don’t think that is this situation. I just want to give her the chance to compete with better players. You saw today — she’s playing a girl who plays a lot of WTA tournaments, and that’s not available to her.”

Gauff, who is from Florida, trains in France at Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy. Mouratoglou, who coaches Serena Williams, said some players might naturally peak earlier.

“I know it has been created in order to protect players, but I don’t think it protects players,” he said. “I think it only protects them from being as good as they can be. And I think Martina Hingis would never have been No. 1 in the world if there was this rule.”

In 1997, at age 16, Hingis won three Grand Slam singles titles, including the U.S. Open, where she beat the 17-year-old Venus Williams in the final. She won her last of five major singles titles at 18 in 1999.

“You can’t kill the momentum of the players,” Mouratoglou said. “Some players are playing their best tennis at 30, others at 16. Everybody is different, and you have to respect those differences.”

Mouratoglou said Gauff would have to replicate the experience she would gain on tour with competitive training sessions.

“She’s going to play practice matches, but it’s not the same,” he said.

Davenport added that limited tournament play might put added pressure on young players.

“I understand what the WTA is trying to do; I don’t love it,” she said. “I think then when some of these youngsters do get into a tournament, they feel even more pressure.”

Navratilova suggested Gauff could “hire a good lawyer” to get the rule overturned.

“But, you know, the tour will still be there when she’s 18,” Navratilova added. “She’s not really going to lose out that much, but at the same time, she’s such a phenom.”